Arizona State Will Honor Obama, But Not With Degree

Submitted by Doug Lederman on April 13, 2009 - 3:00am

Arizona State University may not think President Obama deserves an honorary degree, but it will name a scholarship program for him. At Arizona State, commencement speakers aren't automatically offered an honorary degree, and the university announced that it was thrilled to have him give the address, but would hold off on an honorary doctorate, given that he is just starting his tenure in office. As bloggers and others found that Arizona State had awarded honorary degrees in the past to Erma Bombeck, Hugh Downs and others[1] who arguably have not influenced American society as has President Obama, many have questioned the decision not to award the president a degree. On Saturday, Arizona State announced that it was sorry for any implied insult, and was naming a major scholarship program[2] for the president. Knox College,[3] meanwhile, is reminding people that it thought Obama was worthy of an honorary back in 2005, when he was just starting out in the Senate.